Secondary Weekly Update 25/11/16 from Mr. Nick Lee

25 November 2016

It was wonderful to have experienced my first ever Vietnamese Teachers’ Day last week. This is not a celebration or event in the UK. Most teachers go into the profession for the love of the job and teachers can often feel quite bashful when being recognized. But I believe the UK can learn a huge amount from Vietnam in its celebration of educators, because the kind words and cards really mean a lot to all of us.

The Teachers’ Day poetry competition saw a huge number of poems entered. Lots of the poems were about particular teachers - Mr Shaw and Mr Long seemed to get a lot of mentions, in particular! There were poems about teachers in general and how much they enjoy coming to school, how much the students understand that education is a vitally important thing. “Many were really touching in their sentiment - because we do not often get the chance to hear what the students think of us as teachers,” one teacher colleague passed on to me. The winning poems were Lim Hae Won for the Korean entry, the Vietnamese entry was won by Pham Trung Kien and the English version winner was written by Pham Gia Khanh.

You inspired me to chase my dreams,

To be determined,

To be hopeful,

And to be myself.

Your lessons are precious,

So is your infinite love and care.

You brought me laughter

When I was feeling down.

Your words were like music to my ear,

Which helped me to conquer my fears.

And when I’m in the darkness,

You shine the light,

To lead me to the correct path.

Pham Gia Khanh - 9B

The assembly also saw the presentation of medals to all staff for different awards dreamed up by the students. Some examples of these were: Mr Shaw, ‘the smiley teacher who is going to give you a detention’; ’Miss Sunshine’ for Ms. Nghia Phan; Mr Clarke was described as ‘the mind reader’ and Ms McKie as ‘the most contented teacher.’

The Year 12 students also organised a party for teachers at break time in the Sixth Form Common Room. They put on cake and then Bob and Jonny made two very beautiful, heart-felt speeches, thanking the teachers for all they do. They showed true student leadership in organising this event.

Looking back on the celebrations has prompted me to celebrate here the work my teaching staff do. Every day I see the most committed team of staff that I have ever had the pleasure of working with. I can honestly say that every single one puts the welfare and learning needs of your children at the heart of all they do. In lessons they are creative, helpful and challenging and enable your children to be curious, critical and caring in their learning. Outside of the classroom, I see them giving up their time to offer a wide range of extra-curricular activities, trips and expeditions, to enrich the taught curriculum. As tutors they offer support for your children in helping with organizational, emotional and behavioural issues.

However the biggest thing that has struck me about the teaching staff at BVIS is how they are able to work as a team, to collaborate, to share and to help each other so that your children can have the best education possible. I am very proud of them all and would simply like to say thank you for all they do.